Mel Jones

Jun 26

Mel Jones is a multitalented producer and director.

A Howard University graduate, she earned her MFA at the American Film Institute in Producing. Jones worked in development at Participant Media under producer Jonathan King and marketing guru Ricky Strauss. A Project Involve Fellow, Jones assisted veteran producer and LA Film Festival director, Stephanie Allain – a gig which turned into a five-year stint as producer of Diversity Speaks, one of the festival’s signature programs.

You may recall the legendary Stephanie Allain from episode 14 of the podcast. Give it a listen!

She served Producer on Wade and Jesse Allain-Marcus’ FRENCH DIRTY, Gerard McMurray’s BURNING SANDS and Clark Johnson’s Netflix original film, JUANITA.

She made her directorial debut with LEIMERT PARK,an indie episodic that premiered at Sundance 2018.

During our hour together, she shares her journey on growing from an assistant to a producer at Homegrown Entertainment, dives deep into how she became an Associate Producer on Justin Simien’s Sundance hit, DEAR WHITE PEOPLE, and divulges her secret to being a freaking ray of sunshine.

Can’t wait to hear what you think of this week’s episode!

Beijos,

Caca

“Producing is far more collaborative than directing is. You need your people skills. You need your intuition. You need your conflict resolution and management skills. All of those skills are so necessary as a producer.

-Mel Jones

Michelle LeClerc

Michelle strives to add context and meaning to the exponentially growing world of design. Recently served as the Creative Director at Beutler Ink, a strategic creative agency specializing in research, writing, and design. Michelle has developed design and data visualization for social justice organizations like Campaign Zero, Be a Hero, and Yale’s The Justice Collaboratory and Freedom Reads. In 2017, she created the data visualization for Elizabeth Warren’s book, This Fight is Our Fight, a #1 New York Times bestseller. In 2019, on behalf of Campaign Zero, she led the data visualization for the first police scorecard in the US, which sought to identify urgent issues surrounding police accountability and propose best-practice solutions. Michelle’s commitment to quality design extends from the office to the classroom—she teaches Infographic Design at Temple’s Tyler School of Art.

Mel Jones

Beijos,

Caca

“Producing is far more collaborative than directing is. You need your people skills. You need your intuition. You need your conflict resolution and management skills. All of those skills are so necessary as a producer.

-Mel Jones

Rishi Rajani

Bronwyn Cornelius